In one of Tom Clancy’s novels, a Russian agent has been knocked unconscious and is being held by some Rumanian operatives. In order to verify that the unconscious man is, indeed, Russian, the Rumanian operatives rouse him and ask him a non-threatening question in Russian. The half-conscious man responds in Russian, and precipitates his swift death. Should he have been more ready to think on his feet? In this case, perhaps not. He would have been disposed of sooner or later anyway.

This short story tells us that, when our guard is down, the quintessential us shows up. So what do we do, then? It is obvious that we cannot be on our guard all the time, so would we be better off working on who we are when our guard is down? I certainly think so. Are you comfortable with who you are, in your own skin? I’m not referring to nudists here. If you are not comfortable, do you want to achieve that level of existence?

Please continue to train yourself, do your wind sprints, rehearsals and whatever else you need to do. Just remember that, having done all that you could have done, you need to own the results. And to be very comfortable with growing yourself. Be. Not in a static way. Be. Dynamic.